p.2 #2 · Official: Pentax 645Z Medium Format priced at $8,499
As somebody said recently about Fuji, photography seems to be only a hobby business for Ricoh. They have big global resources, clever engineers ( their own and those coming from Pentax) and good ideas, but their commitment seems to be intermittent and not long lasting ( see the GXR system )
I wonder if the potential customers for these cameras will trust Ricoh in that aspect. ( i.e. their support for this line of product in a long term basis).
p.2 #3 · Official: Pentax 645Z Medium Format priced at $8,499
Spyro P. wrote:
How hard would it be for pentax to launch a couple more lenses with the camera?
What I don't understand is why many of the older, AF lenses still show as available new in Japan (per Ricoh website Japan) yet are not offered in other markets such as the U.S.
p.2 #4 · Official: Pentax 645Z Medium Format priced at $8,499
artur5 wrote:
I wonder if the potential customers for these cameras will trust Ricoh in that aspect. ( i.e. their support for this line of product in a long term basis).
Versus Hasselblad? At this point, I think I would feel more secure with Ricoh/ Pentax than worry about what crazy thing Hasselblad ends up doing. Their recent behavior would give me serous doubts over their long term viability. When Hasselblad closed their system off to other backs a few years back, I think they also lost any customer loyalty/ trust.
p.2 #5 · Official: Pentax 645Z Medium Format priced at $8,499
Tariq Gibran wrote:
Versus Hasselblad? At this point, I think I would feel more secure with Ricoh/ Pentax than worry about what crazy thing Hasselblad ends up doing. Their recent behavior would give me serous doubts over their long term viability. When Hasselblad closed their system off to other backs a few years back, I think they also lost any customer loyalty/ trust.
I guess that you didn't buy a Ricoh GXR body + M mount module and waited, in vain, for a couple of years a full frame update of that nice APS-C sensor.. ..
Or did you ?
p.2 #6 · Official: Pentax 645Z Medium Format priced at $8,499
artur5 wrote:
I guess that you didn't buy a Ricoh GXR body + M mount module and waited, in vain, for a couple of years a full frame update of that nice APS-C sensor.. ..
Or did you ?
Never the GXR. There still very well could be a FF pseudo version of that coming, though I don't really see that as similar at all to a MF system as far as user base.
p.2 #8 · Official: Pentax 645Z Medium Format priced at $8,499
artur5 wrote:
As somebody said recently about Fuji, photography seems to be only a hobby business for Ricoh. They have big global resources, clever engineers ( their own and those coming from Pentax) and good ideas, but their commitment seems to be intermittent and not long lasting ( see the GXR system )
I wonder if the potential customers for these cameras will trust Ricoh in that aspect. ( i.e. their support for this line of product in a long term basis).
From what I've read from other users, it shouldn't be worse than when Hoya bought Pentax, which really hurt their customer service. I'd like to think that Ricoh has the forethought to offer proper support and a worldwide release of those 645 lenses that are available in Japan only, but who knows?
p.2 #10 · Official: Pentax 645Z Medium Format priced at $8,499
douglasf13 wrote:
From what I've read from other users, it shouldn't be worse than when Hoya bought Pentax, which really hurt their customer service. I'd like to think that Ricoh has the forethought to offer proper support and a worldwide release of those 645 lenses that are available in Japan only, but who knows?
What I'm wondering about those Japan only, older lenses is whether they are even still in production. It could be that it's new old stock and Ricoh is reserving it for their home market (since the 645 is apparently very popular in Japan).
p.2 #12 · Official: Pentax 645Z Medium Format priced at $8,499
uintaangler wrote:
Why not use the Pentax SMC 645 FA lenses on the 645D?
SMC Pentax-FA 645 120mm F4 Macro
SMC Pentax-FA 645 35mm F3.5 AL [IF]
SMC Pentax-FA 645 300mm F5.6 ED [IF]
Bob
Great lenses, but not available new here. There is also the FA 150 2.8 and the FA 200 4.0. These would be very important lenses to have available new for a certain segment of the market.
p.2 #13 · Official: Pentax 645Z Medium Format priced at $8,499
Tariq Gibran wrote:
Great lenses, but not available new here. There is also the FA 150 2.8 and the FA 200 4.0. These would be very important lenses to have available new for a certain segment of the market.
p.2 #14 · Official: Pentax 645Z Medium Format priced at $8,499
uintaangler wrote:
Why buy new if you can find Mint condition used?
Perhaps you didn't read my earlier posts but to really be considered as a viable option by certain studios and Pros, they have to know the system lenses they use are readily available to buy or rent. Many in this group are not going to depend upon finding something randomly in the used market. Not an issue for some of us but it certainly is for a huge demographic of MF Pro users.
p.2 #15 · Official: Pentax 645Z Medium Format priced at $8,499
Tariq Gibran wrote:
Perhaps you didn't read my earlier posts but to really be considered as a viable option by certain studios and Pros, they have to know the system lenses they use are readily available to buy or rent. Many in this group are not going to depend upon finding something randomly in the used market. Not an issue for some of us but it certainly is for a huge demographic of MF Pro users.
Bob has some nice ones for sale, though...
I am puzzled that Pentax didn't put any of their old 645AF lenses back into production when they launched the 645D - did all the designs use lead in the glass, or did they not think they would perform well enough for digital?
p.2 #17 · Official: Pentax 645Z Medium Format priced at $8,499
molson wrote:
Bob has some nice ones for sale, though...
I am puzzled that Pentax didn't put any of their old 645AF lenses back into production when they launched the 645D - did all the designs use lead in the glass, or did they not think they would perform well enough for digital?
I doubt it's a matter of lead in all of them but more-so that Hoya closed down the Pentax owned factory in Japan during their ownership and moved all production to Southeast Asia (Vietnam for the lenses). These lenses that are missing were made in Japan in that factory. They are going to have to restart production and perhaps they are just waiting to update the lenses to the current generation (the current 645 lenses are made in Vietnam, the camera bodies in the Philippines).
p.2 #19 · Official: Pentax 645Z Medium Format priced at $8,499
Tariq Gibran wrote:
What I don't understand is why many of the older, AF lenses still show as available new in Japan (per Ricoh website Japan) yet are not offered in other markets such as the U.S.
They are available in Europe, Asia, Canada, etc. Pentax USA declined to import the old lenses; in fact, they didn't even want the 645D. John Carlson (marketing) is quoted as saying they would not sell more than 200 units
Link is the current Ricoh road map AFAIK. The only older lens missing is the 600mm A*.
p.2 #20 · Official: Pentax 645Z Medium Format priced at $8,499
tsjanik wrote:
Pentax USA declined to import the old lenses; in fact, they didn't even want the 645D. John Carlson (marketing) is quoted as saying they would not sell more than 200 units
169813787693&set=a.10151169813747693.439796.101083642692&type=3&theater
They should fire this Johnny Carlson guy. Does Pentax/Ricoh even have marketing in the USA? They won't even let most regular brick and motar camera shops sell Pentax/Ricoh. Other than buying the Pentax 645D through medium format specialist dealers, one would almost always have to go to online retailers to buy a Ricoh digital camera.
I do wish Pentax all the success and hopefully with what they learnt with the shortcomings on the current 645D, the new version, if priced appropriately, could entice more photographers to try medium format digital.
At this point, I think I would feel more secure with Ricoh/ Pentax than worry about what crazy thing Hasselblad ends up doing. Their recent behavior would give me serous doubts over their long term viability. When Hasselblad closed their system off to other backs a few years back, I think they also lost any customer loyalty/ trust.
